Things I learned: a casual miniseries

Before I turned my mind to having a family, there were many, many simple things that I didn’t know about being pregnant and having a baby. Once I got that lovely double blue line on the pregnancy test, a whole new world that I never knew existed opened up. So I thought I might share some tidbits with the uninitiated and maybe spark a few fond memories for the mums (and sometimes dads) out there.

So here’s Things I Learned #1: Giant maternity pads

As a long time and regular lurker on forums and message boards, I signed up to them all when I got pregnant and browsed daily, dipping in only occasionally to comment. As the chats turned to hospital bags and their contents, there was much talk of maternity pads and all their giant oversized glory. Many posters recommended time and again using the big hospital grade green BV pads and talked about using two at a time. Yes, giant pads were required for the post partum bleed, I got that part but how would the two work? Surely, the sticky underside of one would stop the other one from working?

I bought my packs of pads as directed – did I really need this many?! (yes, is the answer 🙂 ) – and had flashbacks to my first period when my mother handed me a pack of her massive StayFree sanitary towels with the picture of the woman in a man’s flannel white shirt running on the beach. They made me feel like I was waddling…

Image courtesy of www.flemingmedical.ie

The mystery was solved the day I went into labour. There’s no sticky underside. Simples.

Two it was! And so very very comfy. Giant maternity pads were my friend for a few days. Hail the giant maternity pad.

Do you remember having any “oh” moments about pregnancy and birth things?